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To:
International Monetary Fund,
700 19th Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20431

Dear IMF,

We’ve come a long way together. You helped us back when the Asian Tigers got the flu, when Russia took a nosedive, when Argentina went really South and when we decided to elect a guy with a beard president.

We don’t care if you got a bloody nose when the only Asian country to say no to you was the one to fly through the ‘97 crisis. And we don’t really care if former World Bank chief economists lash out at your being in bed with Wall Street (It’s okay–we knew it was an “open” relationship from the beginning. We’re not jealous). And finally, we don’t care that the excessive primary surpluses caused an energy crisis which nearly crippled the economy.

We’ve had a long and, to say the least, interesting relationship. But right now, we feel we need to get out more, meet new people, set our own goals and finally, define fiscal policy goals which allows for inflation control, short-term capital stability and infra-structure investments.

Thanks, but no, thanks. Don’t call us, we’ll call you.

Signed,

Brazil

BBCNews

One of my favorite lines from the movie “Contact” is when Jodie Foster’s character, upon seeing a visually stunning nebula, says “No words to describe it. (…) They should have sent a poet.” In writing about Turkey, I also feel it should be a poet writing this—and an economist, a sociologist, a theologian and an architect all in one.

I’m a student. My two cents will never measure up in depth or logic to what Alexis de Tocqueville would say if he were ever to write “De la Turquie” or if Jagdish Bhagwati was the one asking questions on primary surpluses at I?bank. I have no intention in writing a treatise on Turkey, because I know in my inexperience I’ll always read it again in two years and say “what was I thinking?”

Having said that, I think my inexperience can also be valuable. Take it as you will, my being a student (and undergraduate at that) means that I will be in a constant state of wonder in a trip such as this. I lost track of how many times I uttered the phrase “This is just like Brazil” and won’t even think about the times I stopped myself mid-sentence over a mosque with Greco-Roman features or the green-eyed brunette walking down the street. The fact that I’m more easily amused or surprised, I believe, is not something that detracts from my narrative, and most certainly not a reason for me holding back my thoughts on the trip, but rather a precursor to what may or may not seem a few years from now somewhat naïve or simply erroneous assertions. Again, if you look 5 sentences above, the fact that I used “Greco-Roman mosque” and “green-eyed brunette” in the same sentence points to where I’m going with this…

This post is a work in progress. I hope it will be one of those works which are never done, where I’m always building and adding more.

The narrative is broken according to the different epiphanies I had throughout the trip, so please bear with me as I skip and prance around the timeline. (more…)

George Kennan, the author of the (in)famous Long Telegram, the father of “containment” and all-around swell guy, has left us on March 17th, at the ripe age of 101. He was one of those people who made me want to go to a school just to have class with him. He had a way with words which embodied the quote: “A diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip”. I still enjoy reading his stuff, even if I disagree with some of his opinions.

Grace, his wife, said something which hit me on a personal level:

“It was his enormous curiosity that kept him alive so long,” “He had an enormous interest in the world, and I remember, even toward the end, he would get so angry at the paper, angry at the TV.”

George, if I live to half your age with one tenth of the curiosity and lucidity which you gave us over your 101 years, I’ll be the happiest man on the planet.

ric

I promised before my trip I’d distill my thoughts on Wikipedia, and as a warm-up to what I’m sure will be a fusillade of posts on Turkey. I’ll get to Turkey on my flight to Omaha.

We’ve all heard about Linux and the Open-source revolution. Those of you more familiar with me know how I evangelize Open-Source ad nauseam to all my friends. If you’re one of the unfortunate few, skip ahead a couple of paragraphs. If not, let me briefly introduce the concept of open-source, which is more often than not misconstrued. Everyone rages about Linux but most miss the point behind it.

It’s a collaborative effort, not a towering monument to one person’s vision.

Back in the summer of ‘04 I read Eric S. Raymond’s book entitled The Cathedral and the Bazaar (I have since also read Hackers & Painters, which is a great ethnographical work of the hacker culture). His thesis is that while traditional development models apply massive manpower towards building a vision put forth by one man (“cathedral”), the most efficient way to develop effectively is by banking on people’s many different agendas and approaches (“bazaar”), from which an efficient system emerges. I do not do ESR’s definition of it justice, so I encourage you read it (for free) at his website.

Wikipedia is open-source. This however, is oversimplifying the issue. The exchange of information in a place like Wikipedia goes much much beyond the articles. One interesting exercise in epistemology is watching the discussions which go on in the
homonymous tab at the top of each article. Those who wish to change something in an article, may do so freely and somewhat anonymously. Ultimately, those who wish to incorporate a certain aspect of, say, the P-51 Mustang fighter, can do so without much of a hassle. Conversely, that change can just as easily be undone by the next person (at the risk of being locked in one state or another by a moderator). The epistemology comes out with controversial issues, where some people attempt to rationally discuss how to best depict the article in a neutral point-of-view.

This sounds like a mess. But this is exactly the bazaar ESR was talking about–people with different agendas and interests who in the end share the same goal–provide a comprehensive reference source with a neutral point of view. Those who wish to push their own agenda must justify it to his peers who are also able to edit his work. And (somehow) this works.

Wikipedia’s potential make it sound like the library at Alexandria reincarnated as endless streams of zeros and ones.

Like the Library, though, Wikipedia has become a pyre yearning for a spark. One of Wikipedia’s co-founder, Larry Sanger, came out with a critique of the current state of affairs at Wikipedia. He says that, due to its radically open nature, it is also anti-elitist, meaning that there is no deference to the experts, who will be forced to defend their opinions (if not compromise it) to others who might not be as versed in the topics in question

It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly a start. I for one have lost count of the many hours I’ve spent “hyperlinking” from one article to the next. It’s an information-addict’s worse nightmare.

ric

P.S. One interesting topic I’m considering distilling later on is the economical impact of an open-source model. Ah, maybe I’ll save it for that Masters’ thesis… Who cares about “dollar voting” anyways

I got into Istanbul yesterday. This is great (sleep deprivation aside). I’ll post more when I have time.

ric

I just saw the courses I’d take for Summer. Bad news and good news.

Good news: Marketing research as an intensive, MG courses with good profs.

Bad news: As it stands, because both Marketing Management and Strategic Management are on the same days in Summer II, this means I’ll be staying one semester at Bentley
taking one course

Or will I?

.

I just finished my first Wikipedia article. It was on David Drew Zingg.

Dave was one of those personalities whose pearls of wisdom I truly miss. To quote from my old blog’s entry about him, “much like Yossarian in Catch-22, he brought a lot of sense into the madness of it all. Or maybe he brought some madness into the sense of it all. Either way, I miss him terribly.”

“I’ll come over at 5 to make love to you. If I get stuck in traffic, start without me.”

ric

The article has been published in the March edition of the Academy of Management Learning & Education. I should be reading it soon, at which point I’ll expand on the post below.